"This Is a Horror Story": Mzansi Dismayed by Latest Unemployment Rate, Over 12 Million People Are Now Jobless

• South Africa's unemployment has risen from 34.4% and is now sitting at 34.9%, according to the latest figures by StatsSA
• The country now has the highest unemployment among 82 countries that are currently being closely examined by Bloomberg
• The pandemic and the July social unrest have been identified as contributing factors of the more job losses in the last quarter

JOHANNESBURG - Statistics South Africa has released the latest unemployment stats of the third quarter and has revealed that the unemployment rate has increased by 0.5%, placing it at 34.9%.

The new stats mean that 12.5 million South Africans are currently without work.

The expanded unemployment rate, which includes job-seekers is sitting at an all-time high of 46.6%. South African's unemployment rate is the highest among 82 countries that are being monitored by Bloomberg, according to MoneyWeb.

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Jobs were lost in industries in the trade, community and social services sectors due to the pandemic. The unrest in July also contributed to the increased unemployment rate as businesses were not able to retain some of their employees due to the destruction.

Four provinces saw the largest employment decline

According to BusinessTech, job losses were seen across all provinces, however, Gauteng saw the highest decline in employment by 200 000 jobs lost. The North West province came in second with 128 000 jobs lost in the third quarter.

The KwaZulu-Natal province saw 123 000 jobs lost and the Limpopo province shed 112 000 jobs.

South Africans react to the unemployment rate

Social media users were shocked by the new employment rates. Here's what they had to say:

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@MusaXab said:

"This is a horror story, it's worse because the actual numbers are far worse than this!"

@WineladyMK said:

"Why will they look for a job if the government is dishing out money?"

@maverickhosa said:

"But the ANC promised jobs 27 years ago... And still, people vote for corruption and poverty."

@maxim010 said:

"So you're saying that out of 60 million people, only 30 million work?"

@DjPapiChuloSA said:

"I am a Qualified Mechanical Artisan, I was retrenched in 2019, even now I'm not working. I keep sending CVs but no luck. It's hard, I have 4 kids and a wife, I can't take care of them. Stress on another level."

Unemployment figures rising, says StatsSA

Briefly News previously reported that Nozipho Tshabalala, the acting deputy director-general for StatsSA, spoke to the Employment and Labour Portfolio Committee about details revealed in the report.

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Tshabalala emphasised that Covid-19 had a noticeable effect on unemployment figures due to companies needing to retrench staff for financial purposes and people needing to leave their jobs for Covid-related reasons, IOL reports.

StatsSA faced challenges in data collection during the stricter lockdown periods, which led them to employ computer-assisted telephone interviews in their research process. These interviews revealed that unemployment rose by 1.8% between the first and second quarters.

Source: Briefly News